Awesome Tokyo Disneyland Snacks

Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea are pretty well known for the inventive and delicious snacks they sell. Much like the Dole Whip at Walt Disney World, some of these snacks have such a following that lines for the snack carts that sell popular snacks can be longer than lines for attractions! In this post, we’ll take a look at some of our favorite snacks in Tokyo Disneyland. We’ll cover Tokyo DisneySea in a separate post.

Like any culture, Japan has some foods that might be deemed odd by those on the outside looking in. Most of the time, these foods that are odd to outsiders aren’t bad, they’re just unfamiliar. With this in mind, we decided to go into Japan with open minds, and resolved to eat anything we came across. The more bizarre, the better.

Our first morning in Japan, we had a pretty interesting breakfast, and I spent the rest of the day jumping from vending machine to vending machine to try uncommon flavors of soda (my favorite of which was this Dragonball Ball Z-branded gumball drink). It was a contrast to what we’d normally eat, but it was all delicious. With a few exceptions, Tokyo Disney Resort was pretty tame when it came to culinary oddities by comparison. The choices weren’t tame in a bad way–they were so delicious we spent an embarrassing amount of money on snacks–they just wouldn’t be incredibly out of the ordinary in the United States.

We’ll start out with my absolute favorites, all of which came from Adventureland, which is basically the culinary capital of Tokyo Disneyland!

This little gem is a Pork-Rice Ball with Fried Egg. I’m not too keen on rice, but luckily, this isn’t so much a rice ball as it is a ball of “excellent stuff.” The pork and egg so dominate the flavor of this excellent little snack that rice is basically just there as filler. If Disney wanted a truly awesome snack for New Fantasyland, they should have introduced this to the states, and called in “Gaston’s Morning Snack.”

I like to call this photo, “We’re Going Home Broke.” This is pretty much the entire menu at Boiler Room Bites in Adventureland, a place we stopped at four times, if I recall correctly. The Steamed Buns were excellent, but the Mickey Tapioca Drink was the real draw here. I guess this exists in the states as something called “bubble tea” (or so I’ve been told), but living in the Midwest, we aren’t aware of trendy foods like that. (We just got Fruit by the Foot here a couple weeks ago, and that’s all the rage now!)

Here’s a closer shot of the Pork and Teriyaki Chicken Steam Mickey Mouse Bun and the Peach and Lemon Mickey Tapioca Drink. Both varieties of the steamed buns were great; there was more substance to the pork and chicken one, whereas the strawberry & milk bun was a sweet dessert. The texture on these was interesting, as they were gooey and spongy. The tapioca drink was one of my favorite snacks of the trip, with a great, refreshing taste and delicious little tapioca balls (all shaped as Mickey Mouse heads) at the bottom of the drink.

The fact that smaller denominations of currency in Japan are coins definitely didn’t help us keep our snack spending in check. I’ve heard that people often spend more freely when in a foreign country because there’s less of a psychological barrier with using unfamiliar money. That’s doubly true when that foreign currency is a coin, which you associate with being relatively “low value.” As a result, anytime I had some coins in my pocket and we wandered through Adventureland, I ended up with one of these tapioca drinks!

Some of the coolest snacks at Tokyo Disneyland were available at the restaurant with perhaps the greatest name in the history of mankind (behind only the great names of “Christopher Walken” and “Tron”), Rackety’s Raccoon Saloon. The idea of a bar where raccoon gather for drinks (or perhaps piles of trash) just cracks me up. This “Critter Sundae” is the highlight of the menu at Rackety’s, and from what I understand, the exact ingredients change seasonally. Ours had a Mickey Churro, strawberry ice cream, and, of course, corn flakes. Corn flakes go surprisingly well in ice cream–gave this a nice texture.

The Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall is arguably the coolest counter service restaurant at Tokyo Disney Resort. Its only challengers are probably Vulcania and Grandma Sara’s Kitchen. Since it’s in Fantasyland and it has a fun theme, it’s probably the most popular restaurant in Tokyo Disneyland. This makes it a good place to stop for a mid-afternoon dessert after lunch and before dinner, avoiding the busiest time of the day. This dessert was pretty good, but the real reason for stopping was definitely the awesome ambiance.

Also at the Gazebo, here is some Scallop Chowder with French Roll. Our friends Henry and Kate ordered this and I didn’t try it. They seemed to enjoy it, though.

This drink from Rackety’s Racoon Saloon seemed like a bizarre mix, so of course we had to try it. It’s listed on the menu as a chocolate and passion fruit drink, but per the D’s Delights website, it has some other stuff in it, like mango. The drink was surprisingly good (who knew chocolate and passion fruit would go together so well?!), at least until it was only ice left. For those wondering about D’s Delights, I’m not entirely sure I “get it,” but it seems to be a Disney dessert drink brand sold at a variety of locations around the parks. Perhaps it’s a way to position a signature house brand at a higher tier than the normal drinks? That’s what it seemed like, and although I don’t mind outside brands like Starbucks in the parks, it would be cool to see the US parks develop their own ambitious house brands.

Given how cute these Alien Mochi Dumplings are, I expected a long line to get them. Instead, there was no line (although Sarah and Kate waited in a 20 minute line to get stinky soy sauce and butter popcorn). Each one of these was filled with either chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla custard. I thought they were pretty good; they definitely have a novel look!

Squeezer’s Tropical Juice Bar is another spot in Adventureland, and it’s fairly popular. Think of it as Aloha Isle in the states, with this ice cream above being Tokyo’s Dole Whip. It’s actually Mango Soft Serve, but it seemed about as popular as a Dole Whip. I absolutely loved this ice cream, which tasted milky (they also serve a milk and mango ice cream swirl, but this was just mango). Next time, I’ll try the swirl just to mix things up.

Also in Adventureland is Cafe Orleans, which specializes in crepes at Tokyo Disneyland. We didn’t have a chance to stop here until the last day of our trip, and perhaps that’s a good thing. The Smoked Salmon and Salad Crepe we tried was out of this world, but not especially filling. Had we tried these crepes earlier, I suspect we would have been making regular swings through Adventureland to stock up on crepes and the tapioca drink from Boiler Room Bites. Also pictured is an airy coffee and maple syrup dessert drink from Cafe Orleans (with the D’s Delights branding).

Okay, so this isn’t technically a snack, but by-the-slice pizza at the Pan Galactic Pizza Port in Tomorrowland is about the same price as some snacks, and I feel like it bears mentioning. This snow crab pizza exceeded all expectations for seafood counter service pizza. Sarah and I were both pleasantly surprised and would definitely go back for more. If you’re looking for a snack in Tomorrowland and don’t want the alien mochi dumplings or stinky popcorn, this is your best bet.

Back to Rackety’s Raccoon Saloon again (raccoon sure know how to cook!), this time for a Tortilla Hot Dog with Cheese. The concept is very simple, but the results are delicious. I don’t know if it’s the meat there, or if everything just tastes better when you’re in Tokyo Disneyland, but it was tasty. Probably not something I’d get again, but only because there are so many snacks to try there that only the really amazing stuff deserves a second look.

Also at Squeezer’s, we got this Tapioca Mango Drink. Sarah loved this–so much so that I never got a chance to try it. I was more than satisfied with the delicious drinks at Boiler Room Bites, but I do wish I would’ve given this a try. If it’s as good as the mango ice cream, it’s probably pretty good!

Move over, Turkey Leg, there’s a new bone-in snack in town! Yet another great Adventureland snack spot is The Skippers Galley, which has meats ‘n’ stuff. During our visit, the specialty was this Teriyaki Chicken Leg. It was amazing. Not nearly as large as a Turkey Leg, but perfectly cooked, fall-off-the-bone tender, and absolutely delicious tasting. So good that you might want to order two.

Last but not least (actually, yes, least) is the world famous Tokyo Disney Resort popcorn. Before our trip, we had heard so much about the wild flavors of popcorn and how they were all worth trying that we bought a Duffy popcorn bucket the first night of our trip, planning to refill it again and again. This plan died fast, as we discovered that although many flavors of popcorn were good, they didn’t stand up to many of the lesser-known snacks throughout the parks. If you’re going to Tokyo Disney Resort, it’s worth it to try a couple flavors of popcorn, but unless you’re a serious popcorn enthusiast, you should focus the bulk of your snack consumption elsewhere. The popcorn is good, but we didn’t think it lived up to the hype.

There you have our look at just a handful of the many snacks found all around Tokyo Disneyland! As you can see, there are a lot of interesting snacks in Tokyo Disneyland, and many of them are shockingly delicious. If you get a chance to head to Tokyo Disneyland sometime, make sure that you bring plenty of money for grazing. Just think of the many snack kiosks here as a permanent Food & Wine Festival!

If you want to learn more about Tokyo Disney Resort, make sure to check out our Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Report. It contains a lot of photos and our thoughts on the parks.

Your Thoughts…

Which of these snacks looks best to you? If you’ve been to Tokyo Disneyland, what are your favorite snacks there? Please share your thoughts and questions in the comments!

Wow! Looks like you guys had an interesting and tastes culinary journey while you were there. I find it so amusing that they have hotdogs in tortilla shells there. When I was little my mom always made those for us for lunch. She called the roller coasters.

Interesting. Not being able to eat mango/passion fruit/strawberry many of those snacks I would give a wide berth. But the Pork-Rice Ball with Fried Egg looks utterly awesome. I would probably have to fight off my wife to get a bite, but I would love to try it.

There are tons of snacks you would be able to try. I just love mango and passion fruit, so anytime I saw those ingredients in a snack, we stopped for it. As such, they’re way over-represented in this post as compared to their actual presence in the parks.

Reckety Coon Chile was a character in the cartoon Pogo. He was a cute swamp baby.

SandyJuly 23, 2013

Did you get the dish in the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall picture? We loved the souvenir dishes and how they carefully wrapped them in plastic bags so we could take them home with us. We were lucky enough to visit TDR in 2010 and 2011 and I can’t wait to go back (especially after your pictures and report). Thanks so much!

Ok… WDW Suits, get on a plane and get yourselves to Tokyo. You all could learn a thing or two!

As I was reading I just kept thinking, ‘they would never do that in Florida’. From the different Minnie/Mickey bags for the buns to the different flavours in the aliens. It just simply would not happen.
Varying degress of awesome-ness in the above post. Drool!

Yeah. Sad but true. Then again, the majority of the attractions at Tokyo DisneySea and certainly the lavish details all around the park would never be done in Florida.

I think D’s Delights is illustrative of the difference in mentality. There, they want a high-end specialty drink line, so they create something in-house and sell it throughout the park. It’s something you’ll only get at Tokyo Disney Resort and I’m sure guests appreciate that (heck, if they “crave” these drinks, it might even make them more likely to return). In the US, there’s a problem with the quality of coffee sold in the parks, and the solution is to bring in Starbucks. Creating a house brand probably isn’t given ANY thought, as it would cost money and it’s not nearly as lucrative as collecting a percentage of the coffee Starbucks sells in the parks.

Starbucks does solve the problem of the bad coffee (and like I said, I have nothing against it), but it’s not nearly as ambitious of a solution as creating something in house. I’d argue that it’s also not as good for the guest experience. The more unique offerings, the better.

Wow, a town the size of Indianapolis doesn’t have bubble tea? Ft. Myers is one step ahead of Jerkwater, USA, and doesn’t exactly have a large Asian population, and I could throw a rock hard enough to hit three bubble tea places from where I sit. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I did a four year “stretch” at UIUC (B.S. ’93) and felt at times like I was on the far side of the moon.

If you ever get outside the WDW bubble, Orlando has a sizable Vietnamese population (near downtown) and has bubble tea aplenty.

I’m generally a fan of guts and innards, but I have the say that that chicken leg looks like something one of my cats yakked up this morning. The tortilla hot dog just looks vaguely creepy.

You mentioned it in your Paris trip report, but I don’t believe I saw it in any of these installments. How difficult was it to navigate the parks, and greater Tokyo in general, with little to no Japanese?

Was anyone in your group of four grossed out by some of this stuff or was it universally loved? Most of these snacks made me gag just reading the descriptions. I’ve eaten in Europe, South America, and Africa, but judging by this post, I would starve in Tokyo!

Yikes! Glad you guys enjoyed everything I guess I’m the weird one. I don’t admit this very often, but I don’t like Dole Whip (insert gasp here) either…

JanetAugust 4, 2013

For those of you who wonder what flavors could be bought – When we were at the resort (2008) I believe there were at least 13 flavors of popcorn. The 3 of us split a box of everyone but the Cappuchino flavor.

I’ve been following along with your trip report and am now trying to figure out when we can squeeze in a trip to TDL! One question for you – did you notice if there were a lot of vegetarian items, or were they mostly meat or dessert? We’re doing our first trip to Disneyland here in the States in a few weeks, and it looks like it’ll be pretty easy to eat veggie there, but not so much at WDW.

Good to hear I will be able to keep up on my bubble tea consumption while in Tokyo disney land when I visit japan in the future. Mickey shaped tapioca pearls? And I thought the mickey shaped dessert sprinkles on my complimentary birthday chocolate mousse at the hollywood brown derby in MGM were amazing. What else can they shape like mickey?

Hey, just finished my first day ever in Tokyo Disneyland, though I did visit DisneySea about 3 years ago and loved it. It was pouring tonight (super typhoon hitting Tokyo and all) so I didn’t have the time to meander and find all those awesome looking snacks, but we did have the the chance to walk on Pooh’s Honey Hunt a few times in a row. Anyway, we’re headed back on Tuesday and I’d love to have both the Alien Moshi Icecream Dumplings and the Pork-Rice Ball. It looks like you said you found both of them in Adventureland but didn’t name the restaurant. Where exactly can I find those?

Just thought I’d update this to say that the pork rice ball can presently only be found in the liberty snack cart in Disneysea. It is however in a much improved form factor from that depicted – an easy to enjoy long “stick”.

You have me seriously drooling. We’re aiming for a Tokyo trip within the next few years, and these snacks are pretty much sending me over the edge to start planning now. I have a mild (read, any chance I get to consume it, I take) obsession with steamed buns and tapioca drinks of all varieties.